Kidnappers of ex-president of CELAM sentenced to 31 years in prison

, Jan 25, 2005 / 12:00 am (CNA).- A court in Cundinamarca, Colombia, has sentenced two guerrilla rebels of the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) to 31 years in prison for the two-day long kidnapping of Archbishop Jorge Enrique Jimenez Carvajal, who at the time was president of the Latin American Bishops Conference.
According to police investigations, the two rebels—John Leider Quintero and Carlos Yovanni Rodriquez, members of the FARC—demanded a “huge sum of money” as ransom payment for the release of the archbishop and other victims.

After the kidnapping took place on November 11, 2002, Colombian officials launched a massive operation and successfully rescued the archbishop and his companion and captured one of the kidnappers. The operation was based on a tip by another guerilla fighter who had previously turned himself in to Colombian police.